Borrowing a page out of embattled House Speaker Glen Casada’s political playbook, Rep. Matthew Hill has spent weeks cultivating votes to become the chamber’s next leader, handing out tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations and taking members out to dinner.

His efforts culminated on Tuesday evening around a table at Morton’s Steakhouse in Nashville, where the East Tennessee Republican assembled a group of freshmen lawmakers for dinner on his tab.

Casada, who is set to resign Aug. 2 amid scandal, made the same type of ovations —including to Hill, his chosen deputy speaker — in the lead up to last year’s GOP caucus leadership vote.

And while at least six male freshman lawmakers were invited to join Hill on Tuesday night after hearing pitches from speaker candidates that day, two female legislators who had gone to Morton's on their own after leaving the freshman event did not receive an advanced invitation.

State Rep. Matthew Hill sponsors a bill that aims to prevent religious indoctrination in schools. The bill is headed to the governor's desk.(Photo: Larry McCormack / File / The Tennessean)

Tuesday night’s meal, which Hill confirmed he paid for through his brother's political action committee, came just after the current class of House Republican freshmen heard from the six GOP candidates for speaker vying to succeed Casada.

"It was a delicious meal, and a lot of wonderful fellowship was had had by everyone who was there," said Hill, who ordered a medium rare steak.

Hill was among a group of Casada supporters pictured in a Nov. 20 photo around a table at Jeff Ruby's Steakhouse, just after Casada the caucus elected him as their speaker nominee.

The photo, which has since been shared widely on social media, showed a number of lawmakers Casada would go on to appoint as committee chairmen seated around a large table with steaks in front of them. Casada's PAC spent $2,817 on the meal.

Casada’s forthcoming resignation comes after the speaker faced scrutiny for his role in exchanging sexually explicit and misogynist text messages uncovered by The Tennessean and NewsChannel 5.

Hill has obscured some details of campaign spending

Rep. Chris Todd, who is the leader of the Republican freshmen, said roughly three-quarters of the 20-member group spent Tuesday afternoon listening to Hill and Reps. Cameron Sexton, Mike Carter, Ryan Williams, Curtis Johnson and Jay Reedy.

"It was an educational opportunity," Todd said Wednesday in an interview.

Each candidate for speaker was given an interview period, where they addressed the group.

Collectively, the freshmen shared their personal experiences with each of the candidates before dispersing.

Shortly after 4 p.m., a handful of members headed down the street to Morton's for what Todd says was an unrelated gathering with Hill.

Two female lawmakers who went to Morton's on their own were not initially invited to the dinner. Upon receiving an invitation after the fact, they declined to join the group.

"Matthew took care of the bill," Todd said of the meal.

Although only one of the attendees at Tuesday's dinner have reported receiving money from Hill prior to Monday's campaign finance reporting deadline, several other freshmen had accepted donations from him.

Hill has been giving money to members out of a political action committee known as People Working for Reform, technically run by his brother, Rep. Timothy Hill, R-Blountville.

Disclosures for Hill and the PAC indicate he has spent thousands of dollars on transportation, hotels and food and beverages as he's traversed the state in advance of next week's election for speaker.

Hill and the PAC frequently obscured details about their spending by reporting hundreds of unitemized expenditures — purchases less than $100 — making it difficult to know if the various payments are potentially skirting state law.

Lawmakers are prohibited from spending campaign money on the same day they receive a daily allowance related to their legislative work.

Hill has raised $55,000 to hand out in speaker's race

But the PAC's disclosures show $55,000 in donations in recent months from seven sources, including two real estate agents and three men who operate an amusement company.

Among the seven donors to the PAC are three employees of Face Amusement Group, a Johnson City-based business with “family entertainment centers” in Tennessee, Florida, South Carolina and Missouri.

Those three donors include:

Mark Larkey, president of Face Amusement, who also goes by “Master of Done” and “Leadership Slam Dunker,” according to the company’s website;

Bucky Mabe, CEO of Face Amusement, who is also known as “Mr. Big Picture” and “Architect of Fun”; and

Clarence Mabe, founder of Face Amusement.

Each of the three men gave $10,000 to People Working for Reform.

The PAC also received a $10,000 donation from Bryan Sangid, a Johnson City-based real estate agent. Joe Wilson, also of Johnson City, contributed $5,000 to the PAC. Wilson and Sangid work at The Brokers Realty.

The final two contributions to the PAC came from Catalyst Health Solutions and Fireball Wireless, both of Johnson City.

Catalyst Health Solutions, which provides services for opioid dependency and addiction treatment assistance, is registered to an address in Jonesborough, according to the Secretary of State’s office,

While Kingsport-resident Mark Dessauer is the business’s registered agent, the main address affiliated with the company is a home owned by Jerome J. Cohan, a nurse.

In 2014, Cohan was reprimanded by the Tennessee Department of Health which determined he was “unfit or incompetent by reason of negligence, habits or other cause.”

Cohan’s advanced practice certification was suspended at least six months.

Cohan gave $1,000 to Hill in 2015.

Fireball Wireless, an internet service provider, is listed as having an office at Advanced Self Storage, a storage unit facility in Johnson City.

There is no registered agent listed for the business on the Secretary of State's website.

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Reach Joel Ebert at jebert@tennessean.com or 615-772-1681 and on Twitter @joelebert29. Reach Natalie Allison at nallison@tennessean.com and on Twitter at @natalie_allison.